The Sea of His Soul
by Better Man Than This
Summary: My first published fan fiction :D persona 4. Rated M for crude language and eventual, bloody bloody deaths :) enjoy.


**This is the first part of chapter one. I'm getting all too eager to start posting more fanfictions. Anywho, reviews are welcomed with hugs, even the bad ones XD**

**This story takes place in the downtime between the Base and Heaven. Yu is the name of the grey-haired protagonist in case you don't know. This is my first published fanfic, so I hope you enjoy :) here we goooooooooooo!**

The Sea of His Soul: Chpt 1 pt 1

Yu's hands clutched his sword. The mask of the shadow had crumbled finally, but only after the sacrifice of many of Yukiko's talismans. Fatigue carried over the group like a cloud, pouring cold raindrops onto fevered bodies. Cold, however, it was not. Yu had led the group back to the steam house to collect some coal for an elderly gentleman, but the shadow's strength had grown since their last visit. Kanji has never seen the end of it from Yosuke, and he was irritated at his comments as he fallowed behind the fighting party.

"Hey Kanji-kun, how many of these rooms have you lounged in? You seem to never get lost."

Kanji's face twisted with anger as he turned to Yosuke and unleashed havoc.

"Shut your damn mouth Hanimura! This has nothing to do with this!"

"I'm not blaming you, this would be a nice place to lounge, if you had a shadow fetish. How many of those hand things have you been around?"

"You fucking bastard! Shut your mouth before I bash your damn face in! Yu-kun! Tell this idiot to shut up!"

"Shut up Kanji." Yu replies, the same boring, yet captivating expression on his face. His words literally chilled the room. The card "Jack Frost" was in his hand, smiling innocently, and being the iconic symbol of the group.

"Yu-kun, I never knew you could be so cold..." Chie flirts, smiling deviously. Kanji clenches his fist and turns away.

"Be a bigger man..." He chants to himself, over and over as if that would calm his rage.

"Thats ok Kanji," Yosuke replies, "I know you dig Naoto better. Say, maybe you two could relax here sometime... Save the shadows."

Both Naoto and Kanji blush and stare at each other. Sure, they both had a crush on the other, but how could they say it? A detective falling in love with a delinquent?

Yu continues and sees what he was looking for, ironically guarded by the "hand things" Yosuke had mentioned earlier.

"Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, I found our mark!" They ready themselves and ambush the enemies with a flurry of ice and fists, making much easier work of them than the last group. With a final kick, Chie finishes the shadows off. She picks up the coal and smiles.

"Impressive Chie-chan." Yu says. He smiles as well, then looks down. The red cross... The penalty card as Teddy called it. He sighed. "No yen then?" He asks?

"No... There are some over here." Rise says.

"Then what does...?" Yu picks up the card, but just as he does, he hears a scream, Chie's to be exact. The coal in her hand has burst into flames. Her sleeves had caught on fire after she dropped it, and the flesh was peeling off in flaky little pieces.

"Chie!" Yukiko screams. Yu steps away from the card in fear. Chie's screams turned into violent coughs and tears rolled down her face. Yukiko pulled out her last talisman and tosses it over Chie. The flames die out and she collapses. Her body shakes violently on the floor, she was breathing with wheezing breaths and sad moans. Yu held her in his arms, her body trembling uncontrollably. He looked at the card in fear, the red cross seemed to have an aura that radiated a dark glow.

"Naoto-kun, what's going on?" Yu asks, worry in his voice.

"H-how should l know?" She shakes her head. "She just burst into flames... I think it's because of the card."

"That's pretty obvious!" Rise sighs and looks at the card for a few moments, then a look of horror crossed her face. "Guys, l don't know what this is... but It's bad... really bad..." Yosuke bolts in the other direction full sprint into the steam.

"We have got to get our asses out of this place!"

"Yosuke!" Yu yells at him, anger carried in his voice, "Get back here! We can't leave Chie alone in here! Rise, what is it?"

Chie's moans slowed and her wheezing lost it's intensity. Her shaking was reduced to her head shaking in a "no" pattern.

"I-I don't know Yu-Kun, I'm not getting any sort of reading from it. Chie has calmed down though, but why hasn't this thing disappeared yet? It's so strange..."

"Yu-kun..." Chie mutters. Her voice sounded forced and pained. "What did... What did you do...?"

Yu looked shocked. What had he done? Nothing came to mind at all, but everyone's piercing eyes loomed on his like it was his fault.

"I don't know Chie. I have no idea what is going on." He tried to sound convinced, but even if he closed the front door this morning, or anything habitual, if that was the fault, how could he change it?

"Yu, why would Chie think this is your fault?" asks Naoto.

"I don't know... That old man wanted a coal for his back, and that girl wanted some seal thing..."

"Yu-kun," Yosuke asks, "it's a tad bit suspicious that your blaming other people. We wont kill you if you tell us-" Yosuke was cut off.

"For the last time I didn't do anything! Why would I hurt you guys? I don't know what is going on." He sighs and shakes his head, picking Chie up and looking straight at Yosuke. "Yukiko, take us back."

Yukiko hesitated and then snorted, falling into a full on laughing fit. "Hahahaha! Oh god I'm so sorry! Haha, You guys, hahaha your so funny! I'm sorry Chie! Hahahaha!"

"What the hell is so funny Yukiko!?" Kanji blares.

"Y-Yu was looking at Yosuke when he said that! Oh, oh mercy... Haha..."

Naoto shakes her head "Let me do it..." She grabs a small capsule and throws it on the floor. With a flash, they escape from there prison made of wood and steam, and back into reality.

Junes was awfully quiet today, which was good, Yosuke thought, it would keep people from thinking Chie just burst into flames. No one said much, but they all wished Chie good luck healing. Yukiko offered to take her to the inn. Eventually, everyone left, leaving Yu alone in the silent, nighttime streets of the Inaba downtown. Nary a car drove by at this type of night, where the stars shown and the moon was deep and red. today was the day of the harvest moon it seems, was that the reason for their bad luck? The velvet room gateway stood in it's usual place beside the metal works. Igor might now something about the penalty card that they saw. He first gulped down a Dr. Salt Neo. Feeling the smoke in his lungs finally washed down soothed him. The can clinked down in the trashcan from a slick toss. Yu searched his pockets for the velvet room key and pauses. Shocked, he pulled a red and black card out of his pocket. This was... He looked at the card in horror. What did it want with him? He hoped Igor could exorcise this curse or whatever it was from him. The doors opened and he stepped out of reality and into a velvet dream.

"My my..." Igor's fingers were in his mouth. His bald head pointed towards Yu and his mosquito nose was pressed against the table. How could that guy stand that?

"What is it Igor?" Yu asks, "what's wrong?"

Igor passes you the card to Yu and smiles. "What you have there is a persona... Of sorts."

"A persona?" Yu looked at the card quizzically.

"Of sorts. This is very rare indeed, and the fact that you have that card may risk the lives of your friends."

"I've already figured that out." Yu sighs.

"This persona is more of a parasite that consumes your sanity. Ranbara is its name. It's rare, because the only way you can summon this persona is if you will it to emerge from the darkest depths of your soul."

Margret records "Ranbara" into the compendium as Yu glares at Igor and yells.

"Will it? Why would I want this? It hurt my-" he stops. He was to nervous to say the word. Igor smiles wider and puts his hands back up to his mouth.

"Oh but secretly, deep down, you wanted something terrible to happen. You want to be consumed by guilt and pain no matter how much you resent it. There is no turning back from this path. There is nothing I can do to help you. Look deep into your soul, you can see it turning blood red. Your already too far gone."

Yu stared at him in fear. Why would he want this? He just moved to Inaba, he had wonderful friends, and the community respects him. He liked his life, why would he want to ruin it? Surely this shrimp must be trying to mess with him, there was no way he could be telling the truth.

"Well if that's the case, I'll will it to go away." Yu turned and reached for the door to reality.

"But there is no turning around on a one way street you know."

**I was content with the outcome, but not quite pleased. I feel it's lacking something but l'm not sure what... Anyways, l had references to other things in here, needle filled otachi if you get it :) (note, Hirugashi is not it XD) I hope you enjoyed part one. I'll be working on the rest as you read this message :) ~signed and approved by Dax+~**


End file.
